The Nocebo Effect

by Daniela Gurrola

THE NOCEBO EFFECT

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It seems the inner-workings of her mind

Unveil accidental constellations—

Countless spores of thoughts tending to unwind

In their own scatterings of damnation.

Lucidity pills; psychedelic drugs

Find echoes within her psyche’s notions,

Followed by snickers, fatalistic shrugs,

And offhand rejections of emotions.

Feelings erased, if not, scribbled over.

A hand extending towards the liqueur;

A universe dulled by a hangover.

Particles settle with all as it were:

           Paradox fragments locked in her pockets

           And eyes like a skull's empty sockets.

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THE NOCEBO EFFECT [Part II]

A phoenix scorching in flameful flashes

—Its familiar cataclysmic flickers—

Content to remain drifting as ashes,

Finds brief relief within shelves of liqueur.

Insomnia and pyromania

Collided in an appreciation

Of nightly fireballs; stars; euphoria,

Unmasked by her teasing or flirtation.

Like the warmth of the sun during winter,

Rather, a handful of apricity,

Or newly inked papers from a printer,

Each a piece of a reimagined tree.

Honeyed inklings now found in ashy piles,

With sincerity cloaked by smirkish smiles.